As a result of the industrial manufacture of textile products such as apparel, carpet, furniture, and household goods, an enormous amount of cloth scrap, clippings, imperfect (rejected) waste or scrap material is produced. It is estimated that only about half of this post-industrial (preconsumer) scrap produced annually is recycled into usable by-products mainly for padding, stuffing, and insulating applications for the automotive, furniture, mattress, coarse yarn, home furnishings, paper, and other industries. Due to the limited demand for this material for these uses, it is estimated that in excess of 50,000 tons of post-industrial scrap is either burned or deposited in landfills annually. In light of the volume of waste produced and its heavy burden on landfills and waste streams, legislation has been enacted to require the producers of such post-industrial scrap to maintain responsibility over it, even after disposal, and be responsible for the effects caused by the disposal of such scrap. A need, therefore, exists for the development of consumer and/or industrial products which employ fibers reclaimed from such post-industrial scrap materials. In addition, a need exists for the ability to produce products from reclaimed post-industrial fibers which can be traced back to their source of manufacture.
Conventional methods of recycling post-industrial scraps are well known and include processes which tear and open the scrap to obtain distinct fibers and/or distinct bundles of fibers. However, the processes which tear and open these fibers can tear, fuse, and stretch (damage) the integrity of the fibers thereby reducing their value in the production of woven textiles. Such opened, reclaimed fibers are typically nonuniform in length and thickness, as well as have jagged or fused ends. Moreover, the length of the resulting fibers is often too short or too weak to be efficiently spun into yam or fabrics.
Methods are known in the industry for mixing virgin fiber with reclaimed fiber to produce yarn or fabrics. However, the use of virgin fiber increases the cost of production and decreases the consumption of the reclaimed fibers. In addition, the presence of reclaimed fibers obtained from conventional opening and cutting processes produces what has been considered low quality yam and fabric. It is thus evident that conventional methods of using post-industrial scrap fibers to produce industrial or consumer products were driven more by the desire to recycle these materials than their benefits imparted to the end product.
In addition, problems of fiber characteristics are encountered as a result of fibers which have been opened and cut from post-industrial scrap. Recycling of such post-industrial scrap is further complicated by the fact that such scrap commonly includes blends of synthetic, natural, and/or cellulosic fibers. The presence of different fiber types further complicates the ability to recycle post-industrial scrap into a uniform yarn or fabric.
When the post-industrial scrap consists of cotton, problems exist with regard to the ability to adequately open the fibers. This is due to the tightly woven nature of cotton fabric.
Historically, cotton fibers were the preferred binder in the manufacture of paper. Cotton fibers produce high quality paper; however, there is a high demand for cotton in textile manufacturing which makes it expensive for paper manufacture. As a result, refine wood pulp replaced cotton in the manufacture of paper due to its relatively inexpensive cost and abundant supply. A need, therefore, exists for a process which utilizes the abundant supply of post-industrial cotton scrap in a nonwoven process utilizing conventional paper making equipment.
As a result, the bulk of reclaimed post-industrial fibers have historically been used for padding, stuffing, and insulating applications (downcycle products). A need exists for a product which benefits from the properties provided by the presence blends of synthetic and natural fibers that can be controlled in the manufacturing process. A need also exists for a process which is capable of employing fibers which are nonuniform in length, thickness, and end structure.
Nonwoven products are produced commercially from webs of individual fibers or bundles of fibers. Conventional processes for the production of nonwoven products include drylaid (carding and airlaid) and wetlaid. Nonwoven manufacturing techniques are capable of processing natural, cellulosic, and synthetic fibers into a web. In a conventional airlaid process, fibers are provided to an air stream and carried to a condensed screen where they are captured to form a web. The web is delivered to a conveyor and transported to a binding area where a binder is applied.
Wetlaid nonwoven webs are manufactured by a modified paper making process on a conventional paper making machine. A known problem is associated with wetlaid nonwovens using synthetic fibers. Synthetic fibers are known to floc prior to being deposited on the wire thereby producing visual and textural defects in the nonwoven web. In addition, fiber uniformity and clean cut end structure derived from virgin extruded staple (textile) length consisting of smooth rods of solid polymer exterior surface have been conventionally considered critical to uniform nonwoven web formation. In addition, traditional paper making equipment was designed to process nonwoven webs with a basis weight in the 80 lb.-150 lb./3000 ft.2 range (130-244 g/m2).
A need, therefore, exists for a process which is capable of using opened and cut post-industrial fibers which include a component of synthetic fibers in the manufacture of a nonwoven composite product. A flurther need exists to produce a high basis weight nonwoven web from fibers of nonuniform length, diameter, and end structure.